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In 1889 Rodin was commissioned to produce a monument to honor the writer Victor Hugo (French, 1802–1885) for the Panthéon in Paris. This bronze represents the artist’s second attempt, which portrays the standing poet crowned by a muse while allegorical figures encircle him below. The project was eventually abandoned but led to a separate work, Rodin’s colossal Monument to Victor Hugo (a version of which is in the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art).

Rodin worked in traditional sculptural materials such as clay, wax, plaster, bronze, and marble. Although he did not attend the renowned École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris, he learned the craft of sculpture through experience and years of employment in the studios of other artists. As he explained, "In addition to sculpture and design, I myself have worked at all sorts of things. I've cut down marbles, and pointed them; I've done etching, and lithography, bronze founding and patina; I've worked in stone, made ornaments, pottery, jewelry—perhaps even too long; but it all has served. It's the material itself that interested me. In short, I began as an artisan, to become an artist. That's the good, the only, method." Once he became an established artist, Rodin relied on a large studio of assistants to help him create large-scale works. Their presence allowed him to delegate the production aspects of his sculptures so that he could focus on conceiving and executing new pieces.

* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit.